>> joining us in vermont is governor peter shumlin. thank you for being with us. >> it is great to be with you. thank you for being with us. let me begin with some news of the weekend. that is former republican gov. charlie crist is not a democrat.

>> i will let him spear for himself. one of my jobs is to work together to recruit the best candidates we can and charlie is high on the list. >> will you recruit him? >> we will be having conversations with him, certainly. we're not eliminating other candidates i want to be clear about that but charlie is a strong candidate. >> have you had conversations leading up to his announcement that we was switching from a independent to a democrat. >> i'm not sure prized by that. florida is governored by one of the tea party governors that is so focused on the right-wing agenda that he's not succeeding in growing jobs and florida is hurting like so many of our states.

what governors are focused on are jobs and opportunities, that means, not only creating more jobs and raising incomes for those who have jobs. florida is a great example of a state that needs change in 2014. >> >> good morning, governor. before you get into the 2014 mid-term elections you have a couple of big governor races in new jersey and virginia. obviously in 2009, after president obama's first victory the losses in those two states was a pretty big temp bar ressment to the democratic party. how you thinking of those two races going into next year. chris christie has high approval ratings i don't know if that is going to turn off democrats in running against him. also, what you think of the race in virginia? >> well, you know let's talk about the record here if a second so the viewing audyens

knows what is going on here. coming out of the last election there were 11 contested races across the nation for governor. democratic governors won eight of the 11. there were lots of stories how democrats are going to lose those races. we won to races that the press did not expect us to win. we won in new mexico with maggie hassan. we won in montana with steve bullock. he was a real leader, a real job creator, he is going to do great things in montana. we won in washington state with jay insl e! news who has been focused on economic development. we won there in a tight race. we come into this with a temperaturic organization that is well organized and can win

even when we have have less friends than our other side. having said that, in 2014, we're looking a huge number of races. there are 34 races. so 2014 is going to be a huge year. . we have an exintruder candidate. he started his own business when he was 14 years old. now running against a right-wing tea party candidate attorney general there who literally said when asked do you align yourself with the tea party, he said i don't just align myself with the tea party i am a tea party groupie.

it was rejected and we have high hopes for terry in virginia and we're going to help him. in new jersey it is no question that governor christie is popular. there are a lot of candidates, strong candidates in nrge and we're going to work with all of them to come out to beat chris christie. >> governor, thank you for taming the time. a lot of people have brought up cory booker's name. can any democrat in nrge win not named cory booker? >> i think so. i have talked to cory and i have spoken to other candidates that will be running and i think it is going be a spirited race. let's remember, that jersey is a democratic state. as you know, new jersey has not

experienced the revival that we've seen in some of the states that are led by democratic governors. i would argue that a year in politics is a long time, no question we're running against someone who is popular. that can change. if we have a strong candidate that will continue to turn the economy in new jersey and move it more quickly, we think that we can do a better job in leading new jersey with a number of candidates that might run. >> let me ask you more broad liquor about the kind of voters you are going after. in a lot of key states it seems like people vote differently for governor than they do from federal office. there has been democratic governors of oklahoma and you mentioned montana who is a ret

state. how is that voters make that distinction between a democrat or a republican running for governor and the same candidate for federal office, house or senate? >> it is a different job. we have to balance budgets, we have to pay the bills. we have to implement the policies that create jobs. often people go to congress and they want people to shake it up. they want a governor who can balance a budget and know how to run a government but also can deliver on the pornts things that makes it different for job creation. we're the folks that run the education systems that allow us to have the work force, the 21st-century jobs. that is what we get from higher education to work force training, the real obstacle and the income growth right now is having the best education

systems. where we are producing the workers of the 21st century. second, we keep the bridges open and hopefully functional and rebuilt. we represent environmental policies to keep our water clear and take on the environmental challenges that we're facing. it is where the rubber hits the road that we need to get the results. we have democratic governors who not only balance budgets understand that they have to be fiscally responsible but we combine that with a vision on education, on ensuring that we get it right when it comes to technology, making sure we have a trained work force for the jobs that aring with created, so we can be the job creators and we see incomes rise on our constituent. that is what voters judge you by. when we come out and talk to candidates we go for job

creators, folks who are going to create jobs in this economy. >> when you look specifically to the 2014 election and in the midwestern state where is republicans had pretty large victories in 2010, what is your argument over those republicans governors? obviously, some of these republican governors have changed some laws and angered some of the democratic base. if not, what is it? >> let's look at some of those races. let's take michigan as an example because it has been in the press. here is the state that produces the automobiles for america that without president obama and the bailout of the auto industry, probably wouldn't in business right now. you've got to governor down there instituting right to work policies that are against the interests of 30% of every living person in michigan. 30% of the residents in michigan

live in a family that is associated with a labor union. instead, they focus on taking away women's rights, standing for the most extreme lmentses of the tea party that got rejected in this last election. my point is this, huge opportunities for democratic governors in those states to point out and make sure that we have governors who are focused on balanced budgets and creating jobs not standing in the way of women rights, minority rights, and all the other areas of social radical right politics that is defined if republican party an republican governors in general. >> let me ask about california. do you expect the governor to seek re-election in 2014? secondly in pennsylvania you are challenged to a republican governor and pennsylvania has a long tradition to have republican governors serve

two-full terms. >> i think both california and pennsylvania are great opportunities for us. obviously the governor in california is doing a great job in california. he is making tough decisions i was impressed that he was able to win the referendum that that gave californians a choice that you can pay higher income tax to the yelt or you continue to slash educational -- he won that referendum. california voters voted for higher income tax on the wealthy in order to have an educated work force. that is huge. he does intend to run again. he's doing an extraordinary job out there. i was honored that he momed me to be a chair. we expect him to run and we expect him to win when he does run. we're excited about that race. in pennsylvania, another example of a tea party governor who isn't getting results.

now, as you know the pennsylvania society met this weekend there is a lot of very excited democrats that aren't admitting they are running yet but we're going to have an active field of democrats to challenge a republican in pennsylvania who is not creating jobs and therefore, not very popular. >> let me ask you about the administration, this week you said we have to focus on climate change as a key issue in the next couple of decades. has the obama administration done enough on climate change and what do you want them to do in the next four years? >> i'm going to be candid with you, none of us have done enough. my comments about climate challenge was about some of what the governors are doing in the northeast and what we're doing along the coast of california and washington state that don't

necessarily have oil and fossil fuel resources. >> i'm going to jump in because we're going we're having a little bit of a signal problem. it was breaking up so we apologize for that. let me go back to your point about environmental issues and global warming because you point out it was a huge issue in the campaign, something the president promised to do more. >> we haven't seen a lot of action in the first four years but i feel like there is a couple of issues on the wish list, if you will, that i feel like the obama administration hasn't engaged on. whether it is gun control or immigration reform, we haven't seen a serious immigration reform proposal with the examination of the dream act. there are these issues that the administration hasn't quite engaged on. >> immigration and global warming are two big issues we

may see the president touch on in the state of the union address. >> that's right. it was a strategic decision for why some of these issues were not addressed in the campaign. they are issues that toneds to get heated and can give the republicans an opportunity to paints obama and the democratic as liberal which doesn't always work in a general election and can work to the benefit of the other side. it does seem as though immigration will be the issue of next year once fiscal cliffs negotiating are over, if ever. we've heard from a number of republicans who think that immigration reform might be easier to achieve this time. as you may recall, in 2006 and 2007 we had heated debates on that topic. but at this point, after an election where the republicans lost the latino votes by a large number they would like to see

immigration reform pass in some way and they are going to approach it differently this time. >> we apologize for the live signals but we were talking about the immigration and the issue of global warming. did you want to finish your thoughts? >> sure. i want to say what is right for vermont, massachusetts, may not be right for virginia. having said that, we believe and i believe strongly that climate change is the biggest single challenge that we face and we can't move fast enough to do energy efficientcy better. the other point about that from the governor's perspective is it is a jobs creator. as we move to energy efficientcy which is good for climate change but america cannot afford to continue to import oil that is going be $5 or whatever it is going to be in the future put all that money out there

countries that donets like us instead of keeping our energy resources here at home. what we're doing in many of our states is growing renewables, producing renewables which creates manufacturing jobs. take our energy efficientcy obligations more seriously. there is no better way to save money than using less energy. the result is we're growing jobs from it. i can tell you here in vermont we have more green, clean high-tech jobs per capita than any other state in the country. we're moving so quickly on those areas that we now have the fastest growth rate in the northeast. we're the only state in the nation to have income growth in 2011. climate change is not only important for the economy but we can't move fast if you have because it is a huge jobs creator. i believe if we get it right we can will find that climb change is the kind of economic opportunity that the industrial

revolution or the tech boom if it were, is the right thing for the planet. >> you rattled off a number of states, california to montana, what is it like to be the new chairman? have you gone through a boot camp and you now know everything about all of this right off the bat? >> not really to be honest with you. the governor of maryland did an intruder job i convinced him to stay on as the finance chair. i have a lot to learn from them eastern governors around the country. i have to tell you why i'm so excited, as you look around the politics of today h since we did not get much change in washington. the white house is the best president we could dream of having, the senate is in the right hands but the house is mostly controlled by right-wing

republicans this is a time that governors need to lead. what the public wants is results. they want to see they have leaders that are willing to make the bold and tough choices to grow jobs. i would argue that the rubber is going to hit the road because of the paralysis in washington and the lack of willingness for the them to do anything in washington. so it is a real tunts for us among governors and the next several years to elect democratic governors who will make a difference in jobs and job growth by making a tough decisions. controlling health care costs so we're spending less money in health care so we can invest it and creativety. making sure that we have the trained work force. when i talk to people here in vermont and there's a democratic governor not exspergesing it.

two years ago the worst recession in america's history they were talking about more layoffs. now they are saying, we need more employs who are trained in the areas of education to get the work force work that we've got to do done. are we going to have enough employees for us? i think that is the better problem to have. we need to retrain our existing work force and get more first generation kids, more low-income kids beyond high school that we have more of a pozztoif economic future. >> one state we have not mentioned is arizona, there will be an open race because the republican governor cannot run for re-election this time. arizona was a state that the obama administration, the democratic party has talked about for the past couple of election cycles for a potential swing state.

and running the obama administration was talking about it but then it fell offer the map. what do you see going forward in the governor's race and if you are getting some pressure from the democratic party to finally make this a competitive state again. >> i haven't been on the job long enough to tell you that we worked deeply on arizona -- i haven't yet. arizona is changing. there is no reason why we can't win the governorship there and i suspect that there are many in arizona who feel their current leadership is not balanced. obviously, they wish they had a different governor. there is a huge opportunity for us there to say, hey, we think we can elect an democratic governor who can create jobs and be more balanced and stable than what you are used to. >> i want to ask you about

texas. rick perry has been in office since 2000 and it is more than 20 years that texas has elected a democrat and that was ann richards. why is it so hard for texas to elect an democratic governor? >> something in the water. texas is a tough state and we acknowledge that. >> is it going change in 2014? >> hard to know. one of your strategies is to ensure when we have 34 opportunities we try to win each and every one of them. the way to do that is by recruiting strong candidates. so you will see us focusing very hard not only on 2013 but on trying to recruit as many strong candidates as we can for 2014 and we're not writing off the great state of trks. >> let me ask about one other state that seems to present more of a risk which is arkansas.

the governor is finishing up the second term, i will argue that no state has changed more in the last four years than arkansas. it has gone from mostly democratic delegation to a mostly all republican positions in the house. >> we would love to get arkansas in 2014. we have a long tradition in arkansas, let's not forget one of the great presidents of the united states, bill clinton. we work hard down there but i can't get too specific on our prospects there yet. >> if i could return to the administration for a minute, governor. obviously, some governors are lobbying the white house on what they would like to see happen in some of the fiscal cliffs negotiations and some of the cut thass republicans and others want to make in these negotiations could impact state budgets. what do you see as your bottom

line and what the cuts cannot do? -- or should not do. >> let's be clear about this, the president has this one right. we cannot balance this budget and make the changes we need to make in terms of the fiscal cliff, or or what i call the fiscal slope without ensuring that we ask the top 1% or 2% of the americans pay their fair share in income taxes. we all know that the top 1% or 2% is paying lower income taxes than any time in our history. they've had a great deal, president bush set that up for them but we as nation did better under the clinton tax policies where we asked the wealthy to pay their fair share and the result was economic prosperity. we can't balance the budget without having new revenue come from the wealthy. when you see the games they are play in congress right now to

suggest you can do that with reductions and other ways, it is not true. the math does not add up. the president needs to stick to his guns and i know he will. in ensuring the wealthiest americans to help the great nation bailout from this mess. second, when we talk about cuts we have to make them. i can tell you the president and the vice president do not believe that the way to balance the budget is on the backs of the states. if they reduce the commitment to health care, medicare and medicaid which we're all struggling with in the states right now and say we're going reduce their reimbursement and shift the burden back to the states. the president knows that is not doing anything to achieve his goal of universal health care, affordable health care at the time we're implementing the affordable care act in many of our states. i know the president is not going budget the -- balance the

budgets on the backs of the americans. i think we've been too doom and gloom about the opportunity here. it is going to be hard. balance approach must happen. the wealthiest need to pay more but we must remember as we look around the globe right now, europe the in a terrible recession. you've got huge problems or bigger problems in asia than we thought we were going to have. if we can get this right in the first half of the year, i don't think it will happen before the end of the you near. if we can do this right, we can bring in more revenue and reduce our costs and reduce what we're paying out to bring our debt into balance. i think it is a huge tunts for america that around the globe will make us proud and crealt jobs. it is tough but it is an opportunity and if the president gets it right, chi believe he will, we have a huge ability to

see and acknowledge that revival that we've been waiting for. >> let me follow-up on the specific point on the affordable care act. this letter sentsdz by a republican governor. many of these ideas and combha that is what the republican governors said, indicating it should be up to the states to taylor their programs when it comes to implementing the affordable care otherwise known as the obamacare. should states have the flexibility? >> yes, that is what the president has said within reason. what the president said and he said this clearly two years ago. he said listen, i think the states should have the laboratories for change. what is right for vermont may not be right for oklahoma. he said i will give you the flex eablets that you need as long you are not reducing standards.

as long as you are not safing to folks, hey, we're going to reduce the expectations, the levels of care that we believe should be a basic standard that the affordable care act calls for. there is a difference between saying, hey, we want the states to be a laboratory for change. and he's right about this in saying we want the states to -- in other words we don't want to do a thing. the people who challenge this affordable care act baffles me. when people struggle for to pay for health insurance, what does this bill mean? it means we're going to pick up subsidies to help poor and middle-class families and businesses to help pay for health insurance. i will tell you that is a big

win for vermont. i think if we all embrace the exchange and once you don't go below the thresholds that we all need health care, we all know it is a right amount of privilege. this bill allows us to have the resources we need to get more uninsures americans into the health care system. it will make us a stronger nation. >> governor peter shumlin joining us from vermont. thanks so much for being with us. >> why did he decide to take this job? >> $30 million behind where the association is. they face this huge map -- here's the positive part. they face a huge map where a lot of the republican governors that

won in 2010 are facing re-election with not fantastic poll numbers. they have tuntses in states like florida and on the west coast in the mountain west, arizona by the way. the arizona governor thinks she is term-limited. and they said no, she is in term limited. but upper midwest and states in the south and along the coast -- the atlantic coast. there are tons of opportunity for democratic. the problem is, they are $30 million behind. the task is going to be to close that gap. >> when they mention on those numbers a lot of senators up for reeless. so the pool of money is going to be for the governor races and more democratic